New figures show SuperValu and Dunnes Stores are tied as Ireland's largest grocer, according to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel.

Both supermarkets now have 22.5% of the Irish grocery market each for the 12 weeks ending December 4th.

An additional 10,000 households have chosen to shop with Tesco this year, which has 21.8% of the market, followed by Lidl and Aldi.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, said:

“Having reached the number one spot for the first time last month, Dunnes now shares that position with SuperValu – a real testament to just how competitive this marketplace is. Just 0.7 percentage points now separate the three largest retailers as we enter the all-important festive period.

“SuperValu has posted a positive 1% increase in sales during the past 12 weeks, with shoppers spending an extra €1 on average every time they visit a SuperValu store.”

The longstanding ‘Shop and Save’ campaign continues to deliver results for Dunnes. Nearly 64% of households have visited the retailer over the past 12 weeks, returning just over once a week and spending €39.50 per visit – an increase of almost €3 compared with last year. This is good news for brands in Ireland: Dunnes is the only retailer which has delivered stronger growth for brands (up 5.7%) than own label goods, which increased by a more modest 3.3% over the past 12 weeks.

David Berry continued:

“In the past quarter we’ve seen evidence of Tesco’s turnaround, with sales showing positive growth for the first time since March this year. An additional 10,000 households have chosen to shop with Tesco in 2016 and are returning to the retailer more frequently – a clear positive sign for the grocer.

“Lidl increased its sales by 4.3% – ahead of the overall market which is growing by 3.7% – leading to a slight increase in market share for the retailer. Meanwhile Aldi continues to post positive results, demonstrating the strongest growth of all the retailers with sales up more than 6% year on year.”